We are planning some offshore races this season (Farallones and similar stuff).

We are somewhat new to the boat. Our outboard is the standard 3.5 Nissan 2-stroke "light as you can get" standard shaft model. In any kind of chop, or even if too much crew goes forward on the boat, the prop will pull out of the water and rev up the engine.

I'm pretty sure it would be useless in any kind of ocean waves were we to need to motor home if we could not sail. I'm wondering what others do about this?

Is it as useless offshore as I suspect? Do people carry longer shaft motors offshore? Would a longer shaft motor just be equally useless?

Thanks for the advice!

-dan